Cary Grant

"She's OOOLLDDD!"

Exactly. It's really sort of a daffy, fluffy, girly-girl vision of a suspense film. I'm not saying it's my favorite Cary Grant film but I do have a certain amount of affection for it.

-- Robbie Lumsden (9904464...), April 26th, 2004.

That line always cracks me up.

(sounds awful, but it's true... i love him, but i've never really gone for the serious, dramatic, greying older grant)

Cary Grant and LSD (long, worth reading)

based on his recent viewing of To Catch a Thief, Doctor Casino may need a talking-to on Archie Leach appreciation from Sotosyn.

unclear if there’s a “main” cary/archie thread but after a lifetime of finding him ok but not really getting ‘it’... I TOTALLY GET IT NOW

watching Cary Grant movies with eyes that work is a whole new experience & i love him so much

i had never seen Bishop’s Wife til today <3

The new biog by Scott Eyman is terrific.

And now Criterion Channel is about to offer a CG series in December.

My only issue with exploring his filmography is it seems that all the best ones are also the ones everybody talks about, so I keep searching for an overlooked gem of some kind if it exists. Haven't seen Bishop's Wife though.

It went in a direction I didnt expect, and Grant & Niven are wonderful in their scenes together. It’s great!

My Grant love was sparked by the Secret History of Hollwyood podcast, which recently begun a series on him. Just hearing the early details of his life story has completely entrhralled me.

The new biog by Scott Eyman is terrific.

It is (full disclosure: I know him through local South Florida acquaintances). Unlike other Grant bios, he doesn't try to Understand Him. He accepts him at his word as a made-up creation.

i will def seek it out!

Eyman's John Ford bio was fantastic, but I haven't read any of his others. (He's way too hard on The Fugitive, though).

Merrily We Go to Hell and Blonde Venus are both good early pre-breakout supporting roles for Cary Grant

I am currently enjoying People Will Talk

My favorite is Holiday; I keep meaning to make my housemates watch it.

I havent seen that! i will add it to the list

Holiday is the best.

Merrily we go to hell is kinda interesting because you’re watching the movie and then Cary grant shows up and ur like ‘no show me more of THAT guy’

From:
https://www.filmlinc.org/daily/george-cukor-films-favorites-film-society-2013/

Dan Callahan – RogerEbert.com and Senses of Cinema – George Cukor

Holiday is a very special movie, a magic movie, a movie that believably insists that you can create your own world with your friends. And it might not have worked. The Philip Barry play it is based on is always on the verge of becoming brittle and precious. But Cukor and Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant make it into the ultimate party movie for outsiders. There is one shot in Holiday that is emblematic of all Cukor's work: when Hepburn's Linda turns her toy giraffe to profile and says, “Looks like me!” It's the most cheerful disclosure of freakdom in all of cinema, and it says, “Just admit you're a freak. And then have your fun.”

I couldn't get into Holiday.... or any other Cukor movies to be frank. I really don't get it, because I love The Awful Truth, which is the same basic situation as Holiday.

Oh man, I am the opposite. Cukor is my guy! I love Hepburn & Grant in Philadelphia Story, so i def need to see Holiday asap

btw finished Talk of the Town (Mank! v v good! female character is underwritten but god Grant’s role is great, love him in this)

now watching Indiscreet w Bergman <3

Holiday is a special experience: the affectionate limning of a world within a world. It doesn't make the mistake of turning the younger sister into a bitch either; both have their reasons.

My keepers.

Wow, Only Angels Have Wings is pretty high up there.

Among the lighter comedies Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House and Monkey Business are keepers, with Grant-Monroe-Rogers very strong as an ensemble in the latter

I saw Holiday for the first time tonight & you’re all correct - it’s wonderful

also imo perhaps the closest to irl Archie Leach we see on film, from the vaudeville tumbling to the struggle upbringing & strongly held convictions, he seems a little more “natural”?

also Hepburn positively radiant. and that brother Ned is <3

the whole cast is terrific. would v much like to join the 5th Avenue Anti Stuffed Shirt Brigade

Ned is queer.

Grant is awesome.

I love how sister and father aren't villains.

Ned is definitely queer, no question there at all.

And yeah sister & father are nuanced enough to just be dysfunctional rather than villains.

Such a great movie.

There's such genuine warmth in those scenes of them all hanging out in the playroom; it really feels like a group of friends you'd want to be part of.

I love that both of the Potters are academics, and that Linda recognizes Susan because she went to one of her lectures. They could so easily have had Nick be the one she recognizes, but this movie doesn't miss a chance to be cool.

Ned is so lovely. Poor guy.

it’s a lovely film, one of my very favorites

I don't think I properly appreciated the grace of CG's final pratfall until I read this post by Sheila O' Malley (who is consistently great on Cary). https://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=7533

yeah that was incredible

There's such genuine warmth in those scenes of them all hanging out in the playroom; it really feels like a group of friends you'd want to be part of.

otm

What endeared the father, despite his flaws, was what a good sport he was on learning Ned had given Johnny one of his father's ties.

Don’t get the overwhelming Holiday love but I guess Cukor just leaves me cold. I’ll try again.

Yes, I feel somewhat similar

Y'all are banned from the playroom!

Listen. The last man to say that to me was Archie Leach, just a week before he cut his throat.

What endeared the father, despite his flaws, was what a good sport he was on learning Ned had given Johnny one of his father's ties.

Yes, you can see why Julia loves him and why Ned and Linda find him so stifling and destructive; it's not that he wants to hurt anyone, he's not consciously monstrous, he just sees it as a moral good to network and make the right connections and pursue financial success. His response to Johnny and Linda is driven not by deliberate cruelty but just by sheer incomprehension and the belief that anything he doesn't understand must be wrong.

Don’t get the overwhelming Holiday love but I guess Cukor just leaves me cold. I’ll try again.

― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee),

wat

he's made films in every genre. There's gotta be something for you!

Yes, a long career and I’ve watched only a handful admittedly but not one has left a lingering impression.

i can't stand holiday but ayres is amazing in it.

"Can't stand"!

!!

lol seems like it'd make sense as a polarizer given how predicated it is on your wanting to hang out w these people (let alone associating them even faintly w prelapsarian grace)

part of my kate problem in general probably tho.

(as ayres is obv the ballast it makes sense that a hater would make an exception for him but it's also just a fantastic performance i think.)

I should point out that I'd only hag out with these people for a few minutes; their jokes would overpower me.

I can see why HOLIDAY (1938) could easily seem the peak of Leach's career. I've hardly ever seen such a joyous story.

The comment upthread about this character being perhaps close to the real, earlier Archie Leach was insightful too. There is something mysterious about the character's aspirations; they don't get well-defined; perhaps it's unsurprising that the fiancée isn't convinced by them.

But the thing about the Grant canon is how deep it is. I only just saw THE BISHOP'S WIFE and THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY-SOXER (both 1947) for the first time. Both are outstanding, the first almost comparable to IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, the second almost comparable to HIS GIRL FRIDAY or the like, at times, with its orchestration of farce. Grant made those the same year, they're better than almost anything any other actor could do, and they're not even placed in the top drawer of his oeuvre.

My wife takes it pretty well when I ask, "How does a girl like you get to be a girl like you?"